


Apparently Satan Wears Ruffles Upon Occassion

by Tinerian



Series: Sex and Love in Immortality [2]
Category: Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band (Song)
Genre: Alcohol, Body Horror, Dancing, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, M/M, body horror in the second chapter, mention of alcohol use, tender yearning, this is just a nice sweet thing, used pretty responsibly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22572523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinerian/pseuds/Tinerian
Summary: The past week food and beer had been as plentiful  as rain in April and not a single person had gone hungry as the celebration of his victory over The Devil continued. The bad thing about that was that he perhaps might have drank a bit too much, and then spent a rather lot of money on a fine, new hat and some fetching, new boots. An admittedly rash decision he couldn't quite bring himself to regret no matter the talking-to his mama had given him afterwards.The talking-to his stomach was currently giving him seemed a lot more convincing.(Johnny hoped and expected never to meet Old Scratch again. The Devil never has been one to hold to expectations though.)
Series: Sex and Love in Immortality [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1282880
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Apparently Satan Wears Ruffles Upon Occassion

**Author's Note:**

> A very important part of this first chapter needs a little background knowledge that I realized the city slickers among us might not be familiar with. Roosters have strange bone/claw/scale knifes on the back of their legs that are called spurs. They use them to fight with other Roosters similar to how moose have antlers.
> 
> The metal kind of spur that humans wear on boots were named after those of Roosters (so far as I know) and they are designed for horse riding. You kick the horse with the sharp spurs to get them to move.

Johnny woke as the rising sun streamed in through the crack in the barn wall closest to him. His head ached and his legs were sore, and his fingers weren't much better, but at least there was a nice cup of cool water next to him. He sat up gracelessly and did his best to sort out what was his blonde hair and what was the yellow hay he had been sleeping on. As he did, he realized two things in this order:

He was very hungry, and his pockets were very light.

The past week food and beer had been as plentiful as rain in April and not a single person had gone hungry as the celebration of his victory over The Devil continued. The bad thing about that was that he perhaps might have drank a bit too much, and then spent a rather lot of money on a fine, new hat and some fetching, new boots. An admittedly rash decision he couldn't quite bring himself to regret no matter the talking-to his mama had given him afterwards. 

The talking-to his stomach was currently giving him seemed a lot more convincing. At last he conceded that perhaps he should have left the hat behind and saved those dollars for last night's supper. And this morning's breakfast. And this afternoon's lunch, and... suddenly Johnny was managing to put the price of that hat in terms of sausage and was wondering just how he had let himself get scammed into buying a whole cow's worth of meals in head gear.

He groaned quietly to himself and tried to scrub the ache and the sleep out of his eyes. The sun was up by now and he figured he'd better get down from the hayloft before someone accidentally stuck him in the ribs with a pitchfork.

He took great pains to be gentle and careful with the Golden Fiddle, far past the usual extraordinary care he took with other instruments. The whole world seemed a lot less steady and lot more full of string breaking rocks and bow snapping falls since he started carrying around a fiddle worth his own soul. It therefore only seemed appropriate to hold on to it with both hands as he went down the ladder. Until that caused him to miss the second to last step and nearly plant his face in the dirt.

Lesson learned. All in all this was turning out to be a distressingly educational morning.

Putting that aside, he wondered out of the barn and over to the short fence that marked the edge of the Smith family farm. He leaned against the fence and watched Christian try and chase the hens out of the pumpkin vines. The day was still cold, and rather damp, with mud puddles and the smell of wet, disgruntled farm animals to give it an unpleasant hue. 

Yet, Johnny thought it a wonderfully beautiful day as he let his gaze linger where his friend's shirt clung to his strong broad shoulders, and listened to his deep, handsome voice say, "You can get your seeds when the melons are ripe like the rest of us, Gloria!" to a recently chucked chicken who clucked a peevish reply back at him.

As Johnny laughed, Christian walked over to lean on the fence with him, close enough their sleeves brushed together.

"Well, look who's finally awake! How's the hangover treatin' ya?"

"I'm never gonna drink again."

"And I'm gonna start chargin you for every time I have to hear you say that."

"I ain't got a penny more than pocket lint, so I'm afraid ya'aren't gonna make much money off of me."

Christian gave him a scandalized look. "What in tarnartion do you mean you're broke?! Johnny, half the darn town and near three others besides were tossin money at you!"

He winced and sheepishly turned the brim of his hat so that his friend could see, "Well, in my defense it is a rather nice hat."

"That is a pea green, velvet monstrosity with a buzzard feather shoved in the brim."

"I got boots too!"

Christian leaned over and glared down withering judgement upon the boots for a moment before conceding, "Yeah alright, those are some pretty good boots. Still don't pardon you from the crime you committed buying _that_ thing."

"Yeah, yeah I know." He pouted a moment before asking, "D'ya think David would let me put some bread and cheese on credit if I asked?"

"Dunno. How many times you asked before?"

He fidgeted silently with his hat brim, and Christian knew the answer had to have been more than five. Then he fixed Christian with his most pitiful, beseeching look, and asked, "Would you share your breakfast if I helped you with chores?"

Christian groaned and buried his head in his hands, from which position he told him, "Go milk the cows you idiot."

Which is how a few hours and a lot of horsing around later, they came to be in the middle of the fallow field balancing a plate of eggs and grits between their two laps and passing a single spoon between each other.

Christian watched him quietly as he took an especially big bite of grits and had to use his hand to catch some of it that fell out of his mouth. Then, in a contemplative tone he said, "The next time you're drunk and have a bunch of money burnin a hole in yer pocket, you should get some spurs."

Johnny's face screwed up in confusion as he swallowed the grits and tried to puzzle out how Christian had come to that conclusion. "Don't ya think I oughtta get a _horse_ first?"

"No, no, no. That's not what you need 'em for, let me walk you through my ideas here."

"Alright, walk me through 'em then." He said, paying the utmost attention to how close together their hands were despite his best efforts not to. 

"So. Yer always playing with that pretty hair of yours, and fussin with your clothes and now you've got yer big flashy, feather hat." Johnny slapped his hand away from the feather lest it get damaged and hoped that Christian would blame the sun for making him blush. The sly smile on Christian's face said that wasn't going to happen.

"And you strut around town like you know you're the handsomest man in the whole world. Bending over in the street to pick up coins tossed your way while behind you women trip over themselves and men trip over them." He thought it felt rather good to see that by this point Christian was blushing too. 

"And by the time you wake to the moment you go to sleep you're always making some kind of music, even if it's just talkin." They had grown so close now that the tips of their noses brushed together. Johnny felt his heart in his throat and warmth in his ears and he wished to kiss that overwhelming love into him almost as much as he wished to keep hearing him say all those wonderful things about him.

"Yer so damn brave that sometimes I think you think yer six or seven times bigger than you actually are, and I'm pretty sure that someday I'm gonna catch you gettin into a duel over some maiden's love. So," Christian pulled his head back suddenly and tapped Johnny playfully on the nose, "I figure all you need is some spurs and you'll be a genuine Rooster!" 

They both bust out laughing. That laughter was so sweet and giddy and honest that it felt just the same as if they had kissed.

After their giggling died down, Christian wrinkled his nose and said, "You're gonna leave town again pretty soon, aintcha?"

"Yup. Probably gonna head out later today actually. Figure I oughtta get going before ma starts talkin bout takin over the farm again. I don't know as to how she thinks I could live that way. We both know what kinda head for plantin I've got."

"Yeah she should know by now that yer noggins full of nothin but sheet music. Cindy could do a good job of it one day, but I don't think she's any more likly to take to it than you."

"You know she asked me to go west this time for her?"

"Why'd she do that for?"

"Wants me to get a lay a the land for her. Cuz she says that once she steals enough of ol' Doc Blakey's books she's fixin to head west and be a Doctor for them wagon train fools."

"Yer kiddin me."

"Nope! That girl's determined. Knows her letters too, and more of numbers than I know besides."

"Between the two of you yer ma is gonna take to drinkin one a these day."

"We're relying on Peter and his respectable logging job to keep her sane."

Back nearer towards the house a voice yelled out at them, "Chris! Quit yackin and bring yer plate back already!"

"Yes sir!" Christian yelled back, before shoveling the rest of the meal in his mouth, and scrambling to get up.

Johnny followed him up, pulled a leaf out of Christian's hair and told him, "I'll send you a letter when I can and be back by next spring. Try not to miss me too much!"

"You sure you want me to try?"

"Oh hush up!"

Then he gathered up his things and set off down the road.

**Author's Note:**

> It's finally happening people!!! I'm back in the saddle, listening to way too much country music and channeling the spirit of folk musician story tellers everywhere. This series is going to eventually be a definitive romance between Johnny and The Devil, however that is gonna be a very, very slow burn.
> 
> Hopefully the tender yearning in this first chapter will tide you romance addicts over.


End file.
